Fate-Anathema
by TahZin
Summary: With the destruction of the Grail, the 5th Holy Grail war of Fuyuki was supposed to be the last one. However, to everyone's surprise a 6th Holy Grail war is announced, and it comes from none other than the Church! With no limit to the number of participating mages, Fuyuki soon becomes a battlefield. Among the chaos, an abnormality from one of the previous wars enters the scene...
1. Prologue

"Holy Grail War… And I'm summoned here as a Servant…

"You, the one calling yourself my master… do you perhaps know who I am?"

I remember, those were the first words I uttered when I was summoned. I was talking to this somewhat middle aged guy who was shriveling and trembling in front of me. At first I thought just witnessing the summoning of a servant was too much of a thriller for him. But then I realized it. He was dying.

He looked as if his life essence was slowly getting sucked out of him. A few moments later, his desiccated body was lying there on the floor in front of me. Why didn't I do anything!? All I can remember is that, even though I knew he was my master, nothing in me wanted to do anything about it. I didn't hate him, it's just that I simply didn't care. There were far more important things on my mind at that time. I couldn't remember who I was. I was supposed to be an ancient being from a long time ago - an ancient identity that was loved by some, and hated by a lot. I could understand how the Holy Grail war works, how it summoned me and for what purpose it did so, what would winning this war mean and what the prize of winning it will be. But, nothing about myself! There was one more thing that the Grail "told" me. It wanted to be born, it wanted to be alive. It wanted to become a physical entity.

I envied it, for it knew what it was.

I pitied it, for it yearned for an existence.

But I also resonated with it, for both of our existence then were but a mere fraction of what we deserved.

However, it wasn't exactly the Grail that spoke to me, it was more like something else that found its way through the Grail into this war. Perhaps that was the reason why my memories were all messed up. At least that's what I could figure out back then.

I thought of participating in that war. The winner would get one of his wishes granted, something that could answer the questions about my identity. But then there was the problem with the Holy Grail. The Grail itself was corrupted with the presence of that "something", something sinister. The other servants couldn't tell what it was, but I could understand it. The omnipotent device itself was corrupted by that entity, and only twisted results were to be expected from the outcome. Also there was another big problem. It was not only the inside of the war that faced problems, something bigger was happening outside as well. People of this age called it a world war. It affected everyone and every major locations around the world in one way or another. The location of the Holy Grail war was not spared from it either. So I decided to get out of the war for the time being.

Being summoned as a spirit has its own set of merits and demerits. Staying alive without the help of the Grail was the biggest demerit I faced back then. Thankfully, it worked out in the end, and I was still there even after both of those war ended. But so was that entity inside the Holy Grail.

A few decades later, the next Holy Grail war started in the same city. Instead of participating in that war, I wanted to observe how things would turn out this time. I enjoyed how a seemingly simplistic kill-or-be-killed event turned out to be a major mind game between some fantastic heroes and mages. That war ended with a part of the Grail getting destroyed, and another ancient servant like me winning it. As a fellow servant from the Age of Gods, I thought of approaching him, but realized the outcome would be terrible. The approach of a servant would only mean a direct challenge to him. I might be a senior based on the time period we lived in, but his power was undeniable. Facing him would only result in my death. I couldn't afford to do that, now that I figured out my identity after all these years. Yes, I found out who I was, and a part of it had to do with him, the first "hero" from mankind's history - Gilgamesh. I realized I needed to have more patience and wait for some more years. More time was what I needed. Also, the entity which corrupted the Holy Grail was more prominent that time. It tried to take control of Gilgamesh, but failed because of the sheer mind condition of him. So I waited.

After just about 10 years, the next Holy Grail war took place. This was the 5th Holy Grail war, and Gilgamesh was defeated this time. The Holy Grail was mostly destroyed, and the idea of a Holy Grail War was almost over. Almost.

It was then that I started my preparation — preparation for the type of Holy Grail war that I wanted. The entity from the Grail was barely present, in a metaphysical state, but it was weak enough for me to enter the scene. The mages or the remaining heroes never noticed me due to the skills bestowed upon me when I was summoned 70 years ago. I took the entity, now separated from the Grail, and kept it at a safe location.

It took me 70 years just to approach the entity, but I didn't waste that time just to stay on the sideline. I have been gathering detailed information about the last thousand years of human history, and it told me who I really am. It told me the things that I want is possible. It lead me towards... _you_. The entity that was once in the corrupted Grail wants a physical body, and _you_ want freedom. May be we are not anywhere near the time for the much prophesied Armageddon, but _you_ don't want to wait that long now, do _you_?

O bringer of the end of time, are you satisfied with my answer? Do _you_ want to accept my proposal now, and join me in this journey?

_"Ah you poor soul, what__ an exciting journey you have had, my dear. It would break my heart if I decline, now that you have come up with such an amazing offer. So, yes precisely. Count me in._

_"However, perhaps you do not want me to start my own expedition at this moment, do you? You want me to do something first, do you not?"_

"I'm planning to start the next Holy Grail war. But I need to arrange some things first. As it happens, mages who participate in wars like these tend to be very shrewd, not to mention the powerful heroes they can summon and the threat they can pose. We wouldn't want this to go out of our hand."

_"Why yes of course. I would gladly enjoy watching you scheming and participating in your cute little killing game. So, now that I have agreed to join you, care to take off these shackles?! Being imprisoned for ages in this manner is not exactly a pleasant experience…"_

* * *

_**[Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you for reading up to this point! This is my first Fanfiction on this site, and I plan to publish each of the following chapters at least once a month. Any type of criticize or praise (hehe), feel free to comment in the Review section.]**_


	2. Chapter 1 - The Sixth Holy Grail War

Seven Masters.

Seven Servants.

A fight to the death.

The last one standing wins.

And a promise of a wish being granted…

This is what the Holy Grail war promises.

This is what drove mages from around the world to participate in the previous wars.

What they knew was fighting in this war and winning it not will only grant one of their wishes to become true, it will also end up being a matter of respect for them. For a mage, pride is bigger than anything.

What they didn't know was that the promise of wish granting was just a secondary objective of the war. Originally the idea of a Holy Grail war was for something much different. The three mage families that arranged and started this war wanted to reach the unreachable, touch the untouchable, attain the unattainable – the Root, or Akasha. Their arrangement gradually turned into something that later became the Holy Grail wars of Fuyuki.

The first one took place about two hundred years ago. It was less of a war and more of a ritual. There was no winner, and the three mage families ended up with utter dissatisfaction. They realized winning the war would require much more than just a powerful mage and a powerful servant. They started to alter the war mechanisms in their own ways.

The second one took place sixty years later, and again ended up without a result. However, this time it showed the cruelty that mankind could offer. What started as a ritual-turned-war, ended up being a massacre. Without anyone to officially govern the war, the only consequence was chaos.

The third one took place around a time when the world was about to face the second world war. This time the Church entered the scene, and an agreement with the mages ensured their place of governing the wars. Meanwhile, one of the three mage families decided to tamper with the war mechanics, and came up with a servant that wasn't supposed to be summoned in the first place. This changed the core element of the war completely, and the Holy Grail became corrupted. This war, again, ended up without any victor.

The fourth war happened in the nineties, and the corrupted Holy Grail took upon itself to make sure someone won this time. As a result, the final moments of this war saw a tragedy that caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians. Part of the Holy Grail was destroyed. However, during this time, another one of the original three families decided to raise a different vessel for the Holy Grail for a future war.

The fifth war started only after a meager ten years later. The anomaly that ate up the previous war returned, along with a new threat that was nurtured from the previous war. People in the town vanished overnight, chaos overtook the town where the war was taking place, and after a bloody war where servants fought servants, mages fought mages, and where even some mages fought servants, the war ended with the Holy Grail and its remaining parts finally getting destroyed for good.

Now, a sixth war wasn't supposed to be possible. The Holy Grail used in the previous wars was completely annihilated last time, and yet the news of the next war came out. The basis, the core element which evidently ceased to existed, could not possibly return. So the idea of this new Holy Grail was shrouded in mystery. What's more mysterious however, was how the event was initiated. An open invitation to mages around the world for participating in this war shows it's not a normal event this time. The secrecy of the previous wars made sure only seven master-servant teams could participate in each war. But this new war's invitation sounded promising, because of the specific details.

_Any number of mages can participate,_

_A__s long as they are recognized as masters by the Holy Grail,_

_Before the war starts in exactly two months._

A fixed time limit with unlimited number of participants, now this sounded like a real "war". More opponents to trample over meant more recognition to gain. But much to the surprise of everyone, this announcement came from a part of the Church. While the reason for them to be in a war as acting judges was understandable, their declaration of arranging it was so unlikely of them. Perhaps even more of a surprising fact was that no official investigation was announced from the inner circle of the mage association regarding this whole issue.

"Can't you see it? The Clock Tower isn't questioning this war, the whole mage association doesn't care, and the Church who would've gone crazy over this issue were the ones who announced it instead! The only people questioning it are simple people like us!"

"Are you sure that's what's happening? May be the higher ups are actually examining the situation by themselves."

"They can be quite secretive about it, but not to a level that even I won't be able to figure out even the slightest intention from them!"

"Maybe… Maybe we should join this war, what do you say?"

"This is outrageous! Are you serious!?"

"Pretty sure I am."

Similar conversations like that one could be heard here and there in the Clock Tower. Starting from people questioning the lack of higher ups' concentration on the matter and ending with joining the war and how they can win it. Abnormality attracts attention, and knowledge of an open to join war was generating enough heat to catch everyone's curiosity.

In a particular classroom, the environment was quite lively even when discussing about this issue.

"… and that sums up today's class. Now, does anyone have any questions?"

A hand rose up instantly. When she was allowed to ask her question, her face shined as if she was about to ask the question of the millennium.

"Professor, is it true that if any of us participate in Fuyuki's next Holy Grail War, we will advance in rank as mage?"

Instantly a lot of the other students joined her and started asking the same question.

The tall and thin professor, who was in his early thirties, slammed the book in his hand on the table and shouted,

"FOR THE LAST TIME, LISTEN CAREFULLY! I don't know why something like that got your attention, but STAY AWAY from the topics of Holy Grail War! It's a death battle for god's sake! I don't want to lose any of you in a non-sense of a war like that! Don't waste your talents and lives just for the sake of pride. I'm going to give you a homework based on today's topic – NO, KEEP QUIET! YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR MINDS CLEAR FROM THAT NONSENSE! Forget the stupid war, and focus on your study.

"And NO, joining the war does NOTHING to your rank! So, go back and study, and become good mages first."

With that, Professor El-Melloi II stormed out of the room. The recent public announcement of a new Holy Grail War started to get on his nerves. Something that was always kept under secrecy suddenly became a general topic of gossip for everyone. What's worse, the young students looked excited whenever they discuss about joining the war.

"_Something needs to be done about this war. I didn't want to do this. But perhaps… Perhaps a bigger team can help deal with the issue," _thought Professor El-Melloi II.

Out of all the people currently present in the Clock Tower, he is perhaps the one with the most knowledge about the Holy Grail war. After all, he himself participated in the 4th War. Lord El-Melloi II, back then known as Waver Velvet, had first-hand experience of what the war was capable of. Sure, it changed him mentally so he could grow up and become a respectable person. But the war also snatched away his teacher in the most gruesome way possible. The promise of wish being granted can bring out the worst from a person.

As he entered his room, there were two unexpected guests for him waiting there. Unexpected may be, but not surprising, considering the latest chaos about the war that reached out in the whole mage community. There in his room stood two more people who had first-hand experience like him.

"Oh, hello professor! It's been a while! Further greetings would've been good, but I assume you know why we're here," said the black-haired young lady. The red jacket she was wearing reminded the professor of her prime choice of color for her dress. She always preferred to wear red clothes when she was still a student studying in the Clock Tower. Beside her stood the tall auburn-haired man with an athletic figure, who looked a bit different from the last time the professor saw him. A bit tanned than what he could remember.

"Nice to meet you too, and please don't tell me you two are going to join the Holy Grail war now. I believe you had enough with the last one," said Lord El-Melloi II giving a combination of smile and sigh at the same time.

"As a master? No, doing that would give me a mixed feeling about something," said the young lady while nodding slightly to the direction of the man beside her, "But I definitely can't ignore the situation. We're going back to Japan with you, professor."

"Who says I'm going to Japan now?" asked Lord El-Melloi II.

"Your face is saying it all. Given the type of war this one is going to be, we can easily tell you are not going to stay away from this event at all."

The professor sighed and sit down on a sofa in his room. He knew that once that stubborn lady decided to focus something, she would never go back on her words at all, no matter what the cost would be. After thinking for a few moments, he looked at the man and asked him, "Are you really sure? Both of the last two wars took a lot of things away from your life. Is that really your decision, going back to this sixth war as well?"

"I know professor, and it's exactly the reason why I would want to go back to Fuyuki town once again. My very existence was shaped by the two previous Holy Grail wars. Now when another war is going to take place there, going back in that town and analyzing the actual scenario feels more like a duty to me," said the young man with a calm but serious tone in his voice.

"I see. Well, in that case, we will only go to Fuyuki town to investigate the situation. If things get worse, we will try to neutralize the war with as little participation as possible. Something about this war looks like a seriously bad news, and getting mixed up into things without knowing much will only put us in horrible condition.

"The big three mage families are certainly not related with this one, that much I can deduce. But the church declaring they will organize a Holy Grail war baffled me. Why would the church out of all people want to arrange a Holy Grail war!? It doesn't make much sense. Listen, we need to be extra careful from the very first moment we step into Japan. This is not just a battle royale among seven master-servant teams, it's more like a free to eat buffet with unlimited amounts of participants! There can be less than seven mage-servant teams in this war, or there might even be hundreds of teams. But let's be realistic, the possibility of the later to be true is much higher. In a small town like Fuyuki, quite literally anyone can be an enemy if we are not careful enough."

The lady smiled and looked at the man beside her for his appreciation. He nodded slightly to show his full cooperation.

"Yes professor, I know the possibility of what's to come. You can count on us to be pretty useful," said the lady with a cheerful smile.

The professor lit his cigar and took a deep breath. There was something big that he forgot because of the sudden greetings from his former students. Trying and failing to remember the topic, he asked them,

"Are you really doing well, Rin? What about you Shirou? Don't mind me asking this, but looks like the complexion of your skin changed a bit."

Shirou laughed nervously. Certainly, this discussion about his skin color brings back some hard memories from ten years ago.

"It's nothing serious, just exposure to sunlight all the times of the day and- "

"And constant use of magecraft. Don't worry, I'm not going to pry into this topic. I suppose that's something I better avoid for the time being, but you need to be careful of your health too," concluded Lord El-Melloi II.

"It's okay professor. If you're worrying about him, rest assured. I'm not letting him destroy himself in any way." Rin looked confident on herself when claiming about protecting Shirou.

"So, when are the three of us going to leave for Japan?"

The professor stopped for a moment before answering her question. He remembered what he should be doing. He put down the cigar and prepared to leave the room immediately.

"Sorry Rin, I totally forgot to tell you something. Someone else will also be joining us. Actually, we have been discussing about leaving for Japan for quite a while. Right now, I have to go to his room to discuss about it, about you two as well."

"What!? Who else will go with us?" She was surprised enough that this news of another person accompanying them broke her composure.

"You remember the family responsible for Astronomy faculty? The head of that family – Marisbury Animusphere, will be our companion on this journey."

* * *

**[17 Days till Holy Grail war]**

* * *

Chances do not present themselves often. When they do, you have to grasp it with both hands wrapping around it, because you can never tell if it is the last time it will present itself to you or not. Kenichi Haruto had been waiting for a moment like this. Now when it finally presented itself to him, all he could do was give everything he had to grab the chance — the chance to get his loved ones back to life.

The middle-aged man had never been normal after losing his wife and two children in an accident two years ago. Even being an exceptionally gifted Necromancer, he knew the dead can't really be brought back to life without a miracle. The recent announcement of a Holy Grail war was the miracle he was searching for the last two years. He knew about the previous Holy Grail wars of Fuyuki town, but back then he had no need to participate in them. This time it's a different case. To get back his loved ones, he knew he wouldn't even hesitate to burn down the whole world if that was the price he had to pay.

As he was submerged in his thoughts, the plane he boarded landed in Fuyuki. He was only carrying a hand luggage, as he did not need to bring much with him for the war. All he required were in that luggage. Proper enchantment was applied so that even if it went through a hard scanning in the airport, nothing suspicious could be found; and as expected, he got out of the airport without any hassle. To blend with civilians, he chose an appearance that could avoid anyone's attention. A simple black suit with a light blue tie over a white shirt, a gray trilby on his head and the small hand luggage that looked more like a briefcase than a baggage — his initial appearance would give anyone the vibe that a high ranked office personnel returned from a business trip. This could have been a perfect camouflage for him to go unspotted from the bare eyes of an enemy mage. But his untrimmed stubble and unkempt long brown hair under the trilby did not exactly match his idea of concealment. However, to detect his presence, an enemy would not even need to look at him in the first place. Kenichi knew that, and that's why he did not try to put much effort for a visual disguise. What he needed was something that could negate the detection of his identity as a mage. He casted a mini-barrier around him before getting out of the plane. This portable barrier was not strong enough to make him invisible to a mage's detection sense, but it was strong enough to prevent the enemy from pinpointing his location from a distance, which eventually could buy him enough time to escape.

When he was about to hire a taxi, he detected the presence of a mage. That person was about hundred meters from him, but did not approached Kenichi. Instead, that individual seemed to be confused and was moving here and there.

_Good that this barrier worked, or it would've been a bloodbath already before I could start preparing for the war!_

Kenichi left the place as soon as possible. As he was leaving the airport in the cab, he could detect the other mage suddenly approaching his direction, but could not catch the speed of the cab and got left behind. After a few moments, any trace of the mage vanished. Kenichi sighed with relief as he realized he averted a disaster.

_This city is brimming with mages. Can't lose any more time. I really need to summon my servant as soon as I reach my hideout…_

* * *

Becoming a hero, helping the helpless, eliminating all the sufferings in the world, going after such noble causes have always been his cherished dream. Whenever he got the opportunity, he would come forward to solve others' problems, regardless of whatever type of complications they were facing. Everyone told him that was such a childish dream, and he knew that too. But if a childish desire can bring smile to anyone's face, then that's a dream worth cherishing! That's why Kurou dedicated himself to this dream of his. Perhaps it's his teen blood that would boil with the idea of helping others, but he vowed to always strive to keep this dream alive for the rest of his life.

After school time was over, Kurou would always go straight to his part time job. It would get around 8:00 pm when his shift was over. Because of his helpful nature, he often tried to take different routes to home after work hours in hope of finding people looking for help. That night however, he came across an unexpected incident. When he took an unfamiliar route to home, a conversation from a distance caught his attention. He saw two suspicious people in a deserted alley. Curiosity came over him, and he carefully moved close to them to hear what they were talking about. He hid himself behind a bush to listen what they were talking about.

"There ain't much time left. Ya gatta finish all yer preps by this week."

"But where am I gonna find an artifact like that to summon a hero in such a short time?"

"If ya can't find it, just bring any goddam thing of interest. I'm sure some 'hero' will pop up."

"Hey, don't talk so loudly! Even the walls have ears, and we are in an open alley. Anyone can hear us…"

"If some loser with shit luck really listens to us, we'll just kill 'im. Look, Father said the more peeps in this war, the betta'. The more ya kill, the more our chance of winnin' it will 'ave. And it's not like anyone could recon' what we're talking about."

"Still, won't it be good to have less competitors? We won't be the only ones killing, people will come after our lives as well."

Killing! These guys were talking about something where there will be lots of killing! Kurou got alert. The words that were coming from those two were surely not something to ignore at any cost.

"So wat!? Let 'em come after us. The funny part is, these mages are like old peeps livin' in old days. Usin' techs are a big NO for these backdaters. Ridiculous if ya ask me. Killing these folks will be piece o' cake. We just gotta look out for the heroes they'll have beside 'em."

"Ryoma, I don't know why but I'm feeling really scared about this."

"Scared? Wut, a serial killer like ya getting scared about death games!? Are ya mocking me Kyouma?"

"Brother, but don't forget this is a war. A war about magecrafts and shits. It doesn't matter whether we're killers or not. For all we know, the others might be as well."

The guy named Ryoma sighed deeply.

"I expected more from ya. Anyways, start looking for that thingie tomorrow asap. We gotta show Father we are fit for this war."

"And if he doesn't think we're fit, will he let us participate?"

"If he doesn't, I'll kill him in that church. Ya know, the Fathers who arranged the last wars all died in that place. I'll bet it'll happen again this time, either at my hands or someone else's. HA HA HA…"

That mad laughter was the last thing Kurou could hear from those two people as they were walking away from him. But he knew he heard enough. Serial killers and Church! Magecraft and Murder Competition!? He had a hard time believing what he just heard. None of them made any sense. But he had to figure out what it was all about. The game of killing must be stopped at any cost.

He ditched to idea of going home. Paying the church a visit was all he could think about…

* * *

For a mage, the longer their family lineage is, the more well-respected the mage will become. This had a lot to do with that person's magic crest, but also people won't acknowledge smaller names either. A chance to win a tournament like Holy Grail war can bring some acknowledgement to that mage. Isaac Menger prepared himself for that. To ensure victory, he must summon a powerful servant, and obtaining a special artifact related to the legends of Camelot heroes should amplify his chance of achieving desired result.

_With this thing as a catalyst, I might summon a powerful Saber or Archer from one of Camelot's round table. Who knows, if I'm lucky enough, I might be able to summon King Arthur with it! Winning the war would become a lot easier that way._

The Dutch mage in his sixties was quite a well-built person for his age. A head full of white hair and a short gray beard only emphasis his aged looks. However, he was anything but feeble. A broad shoulder with six-pack abs was enough to show he could go toe to toe with the young people when it comes to having a strong physique. His high amount of stamina was a plus point for the war where he knew he might have to face some serious physical hardship. Endurance was his strong point, but for a mage, he didn't exactly have anything that could be used as offensive spells. Fighting with magecraft was not his forte, and that's all the more reason he needed a strong servant to fill up his lacking. He smiled to himself as he was caressing the fragment of what seemed to be an armor. This thing had to belong to a powerful hero.

Remembering how important this object was, he put a halt to his fascination for the catalyst and put it back inside the wooden box which was made specifically for it. Now all he had to do was prepare for his journey to Japan.

* * *

**[15 Days till Holy Grail war]**

* * *

**Fuyuki Church**

It's almost evening, and as always, the area around Fuyuki Church is quite empty. Although this is the only church in the city, very few people can be seen here for most of the time of a day. This church however, is unlike any other, as it is profoundly related to the Holy Grail war. It served as the center of the previous wars. The details of the various rules of war were conveyed to the participants from this place, and if anyone were to quit the war and sought safe shelter, the door of the church would always be open for them. However, despite being the safe zone for the war, this church faced major losses in the last two wars. At one point during the war ten years ago, a large part of the church was destroyed. The church was rebuilt later, and now once again it is ready for the upcoming event.

Marcelino Foster had been the pastor of the church for the last five years. Usually he is not seen outside the church. Because of this, very few people in the city know about him, despite living in this city for so many years. Of course, this proved to be a blessing for him. Arranging the new Holy Grail war and making all sorts of preparations was easier. There is also another priest of the Fuyuki church named Haruhisa Miyakawa who is helping him for arranging the war. He joined the church a few months after Marcelino joined here.

Only fifteen days left till the sixth Holy Grail War begins, and the entered participants had already been briefed a few times about some updates on the event. Although none of the attendees were directly present in the church, it was not difficult to spread the news through magecraft and the various familiars of the participating mages.

As people were leaving the church, Haruhisa and Marcellino both headed towards the courtyard near the backside of the church.

"Father Marcelino, about two weeks are left till the war officially begins. Exactly how many participants have been confirmed so far?"

Haruhisa's curiosity about the participants had always been noticeable. The whole event was still a mystery to him, but he knew if an honorable person like Father Marcelino was involved in this, the war must definitely be something important.

"Quite a lot actually. So far, twenty-three participants have confirmed to have command spells appear on them. But don't think the Holy Grail has been forgiving while selecting candidates. No, in fact, I believe this Grail is much more critical while deciding which mage should be selected for the war. The fact that command spells appeared on so many people by now means we have a huge number of talented people prepared for the event. Well, we still have over two more weeks to go, so who knows how many more will be selected."

Marcelino stopped as a bright light caught his attention. Both of them looked at the light coming out from a room beside the courtyard. As they entered the room, they noticed a device kept on an altar inside a hidden room of the church where they were. The light could only mean one thing.

"Ah, so another one joined the festival. Haruhisa, looks like that's the twenty-fourth participant who is recognized by the Holy Grail."

Haruhisa's eyes gleamed with excitement. The existence of the device that is in front of them is hard to grasp. But as fate made him come close to it, he thought he should finally ask the question.

"Father, what exactly is this device that you're calling the Holy Grail? This isn't exactly how I imagined it to be. I thought it was supposed to be a cup. But this? Also, from the little that I know, the Holy Grail in the previous wars was only supposed to appear after a certain number of servants were sacrificed. This "Grail" that we have with us, has already been present long before any of the servants were summoned at all. So, Father, what is it thing?"

"Haruhisa, I know working with me in this war should give you rights to know a lot more than what you already know. But please, I'd like to ask you to refrain from going any farther in the direction where your curiosity is leading to. Try to have some faith in what I am saying. This device that we have with us, its identity is best left unknown to you. Remember, not every knowledge is power, sometimes too much knowledge can be a curse."

Haruhisa was a good person by heart, and only faith in Marcelino was leading him to stay quiet about the war. Marcelino knew this very well, and it would be better to keep the situation that way.

"I know Father, I'm just hoping to conduct the war as fairly and as good as possible. That's why-"

"That's why I'd like to you keep doing your job perfectly. I'm proud of what you're doing."

Haruhisa knew once Father Marcelino cut someone from saying something, it meant he was angry. Making the coordinator of the war angry would not be a good thing. Haruhisa realized would have to figure out things on his own.

* * *

As he entered his room, he felt the presence of a heroic spirit appearing out of nowhere. Instead of getting surprised, he slowly approached the couch in his room, sat down there and cleared his throat.

"Have your familiars scouted all the available masters who are present in this town?"

The invisible entity began to talk slowly in a very cold voice.

"They did. These masters have quite an interesting bunch of servants. Would you like to know about them, 'Master'?"

"I am not your master, Avenger. No need to call me that."

"Well, you are the interim master. You want me to call you that way?" smirked the heroic spirit.

"No, just calling me by name would do fine. Interim or not, calling me master is surely not going to help us."

"Fine then. You want details on these masters and servants, Marcelino?"

The priest smiled as he started to pour liquor in a glass. It's going to be a long night. Avenger got updated with every master and servant available in this town, and now Marcellino needed to acquire all the information.

"Sure. Indulge me."

* * *

**[14 Days till Holy Grail war]**

* * *

Quite a few mages have already arrived in Fuyuki, and the earlier you get there the more preparation you can make for the war. Knowing this, Maria Tchaikovsky, Berthe Colette Perreault and Orianne Desrosiers – the trio decided to get set their base location in the warzone as early and as safe as possible. Having arrived in the town just a few days ago, they did not waste a single moment and started their research of this town. Knowing the main setting of the war is one step closer to achieving victory.

The three are not related by blood, but their intimacy with each other and similarities in appearance can easily fool anyone into thinking they are sisters. All three of them are in their late twenties, have slim and tall figure, have similar straight and long black hairs. They studied together in the Clock Tower, worked together, and now are participating together in this war.

However, as this is a war, they realized discussion about their servants among themselves will not be fruitful. No one could tell how the war will turn out, and disclosing crucial info about one's servant might end up causing to pay huge price.

At first, Orianne was extremely happy when she summoned her servant of Caster class. The idea behind summoning this servant appeared to be a good move. However, when Caster started to speak, his words disappointed her.

"I am prepared to participate in this war, master. However, I would like to avoid killing anyone. Now, I don't know yet how that is going to be possible, but I'd request you to not make me a killer. Under no circumstance should I approve of your decision if you decide to make me murder someone, be that an opponent servant or master."

Orianne's jaw fell down. She couldn't believe her ears!

"Are you kidding me! How exactly are you going to win the war if you decide to go pacifist! Don't you realize what this war is about?"

"I assure you I know everything I could know of it. Also, being one of heroic spirits of recent times, I know how desire for power can lead to cruelty and ultimately mankind's suffering. My own creation lead towards colossal destruction that happened in this country not long ago, and I still regret that."

Orianne's servant Caster seemed to be talking sane. But his words couldn't show any sort of hope of winning the war.

"Caster, what exactly are you going to do in this war then? Look, I know you were not a warrior in your lifetime. A scientist like you probably would avoid war in all context. But here you are now, participating in a war as one of the most powerful servants! You think if you stay away from battles, others would fight and kill each other and you will be the last one standing!? It's not that easy, it's not why I summoned you for."

The middle-aged looking heroic spirit looked at Orianne with a bit of sadness in his eyes.

"Fighting is not always the only way to advance. I said I don't plan on killing anyone, but I never said I don't want to win the war. I would very much like to win it and present you the Grail. Can I please ask you hear me about with how I want us to advance, dear master?"

Orianne was downhearted. But she had faith in her servant. Generally, a heroic spirit like him was not supposed to be powerful in a normal battle, but the condition of Holy Grail war should amplify his strength tenfold. The more well-known the heroic spirit is in the land he is summoned in, the more powerful he would become. For an icon of the modern generation, Albert Einstein's fame would skyrocket his stats as a servant. She felt she could at least trust her servant's power.

"Okay then, let's discuss our tactics for the war, Mr. Einstein."

"Caster. Just call me Caster. It's all about practice. If you don't practice by calling me as my servant class, mistakenly calling me by name in front of others would be troubling."

Orianne smiled. Caster looks like quiet the reliable person when he is smiling. She wants to believe in him.

"Okay then, Caster. Hm, it actually doesn't sound that stupid calling you by your class name."

"Beautiful!" exclaimed Caster.

* * *

Maria summoned a legendary icon from her country. Acquiring the artifact for summoning this servant was quiet the hassle, so she decided to summon this servant as soon as she got a hold of the artifact. Her servant of Berserker class had been with her from before coming to Japan.

While summoning, she thought about adding the few extra lines to make the servant a Berserker class would be amazing. More firepower would mean an edge over the opponents. But now that Orianne summoned a Caster, she realized perhaps summoning her servant as another class probably would have been a good idea.

Grigory Rasputin, her Berserker servant, have not been much responsive since his summoning. For example, Maria would tell him to do something, but all he would do was stand where he was, or walk around the room. He would stay close to her all the time, so he at least did not go rogue. But if things keep on being like this in the war, she would have trouble.

_Oh boy, we haven't started the war yet, and my servant is already not giving a crap about what I say. Nice. Really nice._

For now, wasting her command seals seemed to be unnecessary. But for how long could she keep them unused was a question she didn't like to think about.

* * *

As for Berthe, when she summoned her servant, she thought someone played a prank on her. About a week ago, she searched the whole of Britain and got an artifact that looked good enough to summon a powerful servant. Once she actually used it, the servant that appeared in front of her looked nothing like any Englishmen from the past.

_This servant of brown colored skin looks from South Asia. Indian perhaps? But how, or why would an Indian hero appear with this artifact!?_

Berthe gathered her courage to ask him about his origin.

"You are certainly not from Europe, are you? What heroic spirit are you anyway?"

The man wearing lavish sultan-esque dress gave a wicked smile. He started to speak in a relatively higher pitch,

"Mir Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur, Assassin class servant, at your service, master."

That servant was certainly not someone she ever heard about, or read in her history lessons. She searched the library to learn about this guy. From what she understood, this person was never exactly anything like an assassin in his life. Probably a weak Saber would be more suitable as his class.

"Ah, it seems you are worried about my class. Do not worry master, I can assure you I am just the perfect Assassin you can have for a war like this."

"Really? Perfect Assassin? Well, I hope what you're claiming is true. Because we have a lot to go through if you don't perform well."

Assassin smiled and nodded. All Berthe could think of the gesture was that of a third-grade villain.

_Villain or not, I don't care as long as he can do my biddings. Then again, perhaps he IS capable of laying the foundation for my victory…_

* * *

_**[Author's Note: **_

_**First of all, thank you for reading this chapter!**_

_**Secondly, I apologize for the late upload of what is just the 2**__**nd**__** chapter (1**__**st**__** if you count the prologue chapter as a mini-intro). My personal life was quite hectic the last few months. However, to prevent extra-late uploads in the future, I would try to upload short chapters if it comes to that.**_

_**Thirdly, I would like to do something from the next chapters: add background music for a scene. I've seen a lot of people doing this over different websites when it comes to writing stories. Music can set the mood and pace of a story, and I'd like to give the readers a feel to these moments based on how I perceive them – by giving the names of the music (as linking is quite impossible in an article, and looks bad as well).**_

_**Finally, thanks again for reading this.]**_


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